SWONS History It is thought that SWONS originated from an idea by a male tutor in Exeter. This was back in the early 1980's and was to facilitate an exchange of information between the various Ophthalmic units and to help maintain the knowledge base. At that time the Ophthalmic course had been run in Exeter for many years on & off. Two colleagues in Exeter built it up mainly because any study to do with Ophthalmology (IONA), were always great distances away from Truro,Falmouth,Plymouth and other Southern counties. The first treasurer seems to have resided somewhere in South Wales,when our present treasurer took over we were in the red, not now! How it has spread as far North as it has we are not sure, if anybody know we would be very interested.